Cupcake week (14th - 20th September)

A whole week of cupcakes, amazing! As if the OxNosh team needed any excuse to bake. And bake we did. And Internet shop, too. More of that later…

Cupcakes (and I mean the embellished type), are undeniably American, and with ounces of cream cheese frosting on their over-sized form their nationality speaks through whatever disguise they are given. Girls love them for their colours, sparkles and fancy cases; guys love them for their two-bite muchability. And what’s not to love?

Speaking as a member of the fairer sex, there’s something pretty appealing about being able to legitimately accessorise baked goods - literally the more outrageous the better when it comes to cupcakes and muffins. And here’s where that Internet shopping I alluded to comes in- Cakes Cookies and Craft Shop took a large bite out of my account this month in the form of sparkles, cupcake cases and silver balls.

And the result? The most blinged-up cakes this side of New York. All enjoyed with a nice cuppa, how very un-American.

I made three classic recipes to celebrate cupcake week - why not try the delicious hummingbird recipe here, a mix of tropical banana and pineapple, mixed with cinnamon and pecans, coated in artery-clogging cream cheese icing and a few pretty embelishments.

Useful things to note:

• Generally fill your cases up to 3/4 full of raw cake mix - this is usually the right amount of mixture to rise just proud of the case
• Make sure your baked cakes are cool before you ice them - otherwise the icing can melt
• If you don’t have a piping bag, no worries - icing can be spooned and spread onto cakes, or else for a piping bag effect, fill up a freezer bag with icing and squeeze into one corner, carefully snip the point of the corner off, and then pipe to your heart’s content
• Cream cheese icing can be frozen - so if you make too much just pop it in the freezer in a sealed box (or freezer bag), and whisk once defrosted (defrost in the fridge overnight, not microwave)